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National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) 2015-2016: Assam

FOCUS

Since 1992, the International Institute for Population Sciences,
Mumbai, has conducted the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for the Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare. The survey provides detailed information on
population, health and nutrition in each state and union territory of
India.

This state report on Assam presents the important findings of the
survey’s fourth round, conducted in all 27 districts of the state between
November 6, 2015 and March 31, 2016. Previous NFHS surveys were conducted in
1992-93, 1998-99 and 2005-06.

The survey collected information on the socio-economic characteristics
of households, education, fertility, family planning, infant and child
mortality, and maternal and child health. It also gathered information on
reproductive health, sexual behaviour, marriage, domestic violence, and attitudes
towards gender roles. And it included information on the prevalence of
HIV/AIDS, nutrition, water and sanitation, health services and insurance.

FACTOIDS

Around
16 per cent of the households surveyed were in urban areas and on average, each
family had five members. 14 per cent of all households were headed by women;
these households constituted 11 per cent
of the population.

63.8
per cent of all households were headed by Hindus, 32.5 by Muslims, 3.3 per cent
by Christians, and 0.3 per cent by ‘Others’.

Of
all the households, 11 per cent were headed by persons belonging to the Scheduled
Castes, 13 per cent by persons from the Scheduled Tribes, and 27 per cent by persons
from the Other Backward Classes. The remaining belonged to the ‘Other’ category
or their caste/tribe was not known.

Around
25 per cent of families lived in a pucca
(permanent) structure and 78 per cent had electricity. 11 per cent of all families
defecated in the open, down from 24 per cent at the time of NFHS-3.

96
per cent of urban households and 86 per cent of rural households had a mobile
phone.

84 per
cent of all households had a bank or post office account. 42 per cent had a
below poverty line (BPL) card, up from 19 per cent in NFHS-3. And 48 per cent
of rural households and 16 per cent of urban households owned agricultural
land.

Among
women aged 15-19, 14 per cent had already had a delivery or were pregnant with
their first child – and of these, 32 per cent were 19-year-old-women.

There
was a strong preference for sons – 18 per cent of both women and men wanted
more sons than daughters, but only 3-4 per cent of both women and men wanted
more daughters than sons.

The
births of 94 per cent of children under 5 were registered with the civil
authorities, and 86 per cent of children had a birth certificate.

76
per cent of women and 72 per cent of men felt that an ideal family had two or
fewer children. 61 per cent of married women and 58 per cent of married men
wanted no more children, were sterilised or had a spouse who was sterilised.

Knowledge of contraception was almost universal, but some methods were less well known. 67 per cent of married women knew about ‘injectables’ and 24 per cent knew about female condoms. 42 per cent of all women knew about emergency contraception.

Among
women who gave birth in the five years before the survey, 83 per cent received
antenatal care for their last birth from a health professional,59 per cent from
a doctor, and 24 per cent from an auxiliary nurse midwife, ‘lady health visitor’,
nurse or midwife. 11 per cent of women did not receive any antenatal care.

Among
children under 5 years, 36 per cent were stunted, which indicates that they had
been undernourished for some time; 17 per cent were wasted (low weight for
height), 6 per cent were severely wasted, and 30 per cent were underweight.

79
per cent of children in the 6-17 age group attended school – 85 per cent in
urban areas and 78 per cent in rural areas.

In
the 12 months before the survey, 19 per cent of women and 85 per cent of men
(both in the 15-49 age group) were employed. Among employed women, 91 per cent
earned cash (of these, 18 per cent earned in cash and kind) and 7 per cent were
not paid at all.

24 per cent of all women had experienced physical or sexual violence but only 7 per cent of these women had sought help.